Creativity Archives - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
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Creativity

Day 344, Saturday, December 14, 2024

Posted on December 13, 2024
in Being in Nature, Creativity
2 Comments

Reflections Inspiration In his essay, “The Lesson of the Lilac,” the beloved spirituality teacher Eknath Easwaran describes how every morning from the window of his dining room he looked at a lilac bush. In spring, the scent of its opulent blossoms brought heady perfume his way. This heavenly experience continued for about three weeks. Then one day he noticed the delicate flowers turning brown. Their fragrance no longer filled the air. The tiny blossoms had taken their time to bloom, then flourish and fade.  On the opposite end, a pine tree grows for thousands of years before it dies but it too takes its own time to grow. “Nature does not hurry,” writes Lao Tzu, “yet everything is accomplished.”  You are on a writing journey inside and outside. It is not a race. Your...

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Day 343, Friday, December 13, 2024

Posted on December 12, 2024
in Being in Nature, Creativity, Journaling, Meditation, Nonverbal Activities, Reading, Writing
4 Comments

Reflections Inspiration If you have been practicing Writing Meditation for more than eleven months now, it may have already become an integral part of your day. You may have even developed a specific pattern that you follow to your own satisfaction. Bravo!  However, if out of the five disciplines there are one or two that you have not been able to practice, jot down two reasons explaining to yourself why this is so. For each reason, write ideas for how you can still turn that around and learn to make it a habit. Try silent meditation of 5-10 minutes instead of the guided meditation that runs for about 15 minutes. If you don’t have time to journal, what about moving the practice to a time of day that is more convenient? Is it the walking...

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Day 339, Monday, December 9, 2024

Posted on December 8, 2024
in Creativity, Journaling, Meditation
2 Comments

Reflections Inspiration Keeping deadlines and balancing your physical, familial, social, emotional, intellectual, and creative/spiritual life is important. An unbalanced life leads to stress and discontentment. It took me half of my life to harmonize my typical day. I scheduled the time for five disciplines, longer time for writing, time with my husband and time with children and grandchildren according to what I was certain to do. Some of these required daily attentions while others monthly or yearly. You can begin this harmonizing your life earlier. If you are in your thirties or forties, know that scheduling keeps changing from one phase of life to the next. Just make sure you do not neglect any important area.  Stay in touch with your disciplines and adjust the time spent on each accordingly. Every second of your...

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Day 335, Thursday, December 5, 2024

Posted on December 4, 2024
in Creativity, Reading
4 Comments

Reflections Inspiration As you focus this month on your journey to self, I would like to emphasize the significance of voracious reading and writing your heart out. In your quest to write one book, you may turn over half a library.  Consider how other authors expose what they feel deep inside, drawing attention to some truth that is important to them, or exposing a secret they want the whole world to know. They know they may not produce a masterpiece, but this thing churning in their belly will not release them until they take the risk. That’s how important writing is.  The most effective writers are voracious readers. They allow authors from across the millennia to speak to them clearly and silently. They let them get into their heads. Thus reading and writing bring...

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Day 334, Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Posted on December 3, 2024
in Creativity, Nonverbal Activities
4 Comments

Reflections Inspiration I invite you to take a deeper interest in any of the nonverbal activities we have been discussing throughout the year. You never know which one may inspire you, stirring you to the marrow of your bones. Learn from the emotional feel of paintings, sway to the rhythm of vocal and instrumental music, embody the movements of dance, get lost in another world at the theater. What you may learn from any of these art forms will surprise you and have a profound effect on your writing. If you’re approaching retirement age, why not make it a time of refirement instead? Refire the passion that has lain dormant, which you never got the chance or time to pursue. Losing a job or getting sick or recuperating from surgery may cause you to be away...

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Day 333, Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Posted on December 2, 2024
in Creativity, Journaling, Nonverbal Activities, Reading, Writing
6 Comments

Reflections Inspiration Writing Meditation Practice has five disciplines. Here are the taglines for each. Meditation: Align with Self; Align with the universe Journaling: Lighter mind; Kinder heart Reading: Author as revered teacher Nonverbal activities: Letting imagination go wildWriting: Get into the zone The Writing Meditation Practice is painstakingly slow but measurable. Writing skill and style get better with regular practice, but progress is not a straight line; readers can feel it. However, in meditation and journaling, only the practitioner feels it. You watch yourself changing from mindless to mindful with increased self-understanding. In turn, self-understanding increases self-compassion and kindness toward others. No outsider could or is keeping score of your inner self. You notice personal insecurities and fears slowly alleviate. You feel the cacophony of thoughts settling down, the physical discomfort changing to a relaxed body, and an indifferent heart turning kind. You...

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Day 332, Monday, December 2, 2024

Posted on December 1, 2024
in Creativity, Writing
6 Comments

Reflections Inspiration Even when you struggle with a dialogue, a character, a scene… even when you get stuck, puzzle over the project, or doubt it… you continue to write. Slowly the idea morphs into a story, an essay, or possibly a novel. The idea, along with your reading and research material have merged. Mild ecstasy emerges and envelops you. Your passion is your pleasure.  Then comes the moment, the dreaded moment when you are unable to continue. Where to take the story next? You divert your attention to something else. You may go for a walk, fold clothes, cook dinner, make a drawing. Get busy with any of these activities that does not use words.  Then at some point, you hear the work call to you. It silently speaks, telling you where you may...

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Day 330, Saturday, November 30, 2024

Posted on November 30, 2024
in Creativity, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds
6 Comments

Reflections Inspiration Awe and wonder give rise to love, generosity, compassion, and ultimately to loving relationships. Here are three things you can do to invite wonderment into your life. In the morning before you meditate or journal, ask yourself, What wonderful things do I intend to do today?Your intention should be related to one of the goals you have made for yourself and which has a positive element to it. During the day think, What could I say to someone or do for someone that would surprise or delight them? This could be anyone – preferably a person you meet once in a while or a total stranger. If you are going to be home all day, say it to the person you live with, or do something for them that eases their work. Or call someone...

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Day 329, Friday, November 29, 2024

Posted on November 28, 2024
in Being in Nature, Creativity, Nonverbal Activities
4 Comments

Reflections Inspiration Today, think about a flower growing in your garden, or a bright orange and yellow and bronze leaf that is falling to the ground, or a painting in a museum. As you did yesterday with a favorite book, today consider this item you may have seen ten or a hundred times, but approach it with a beginner’s mind. What do you notice first? What makes you smile? When you are free, when you are listening and seeing with your heart, when you are not restricted, you enjoy looking or listening differently. Know the difference between analytical learning and aesthetic delight. The former is knowledge, the latter insight. Awe and wonder can lead you on a new path, but the trail will become visible if you allow yourself the freedom to walk....

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Day 327, Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Posted on November 26, 2024
in Being in Nature, Creativity, Journaling, Meditation
4 Comments

Reflections Inspiration A fine balance of intellectual knowledge and emotional experiences has the power to change you physically and spiritually. When you honor your traumatic experiences, your pain, your hurt through creativity – journaling, meditation, reading, writing, painting, singing, dancing – your body changes, as does your posture, gestures, and facial expressions. Let your body make friends with your mind by working intimately. When you are absorbed in creativity, the body, mind, and heart work in unison. A mixed feeling of pleasure and peace circulates through your whole self, so much so that a person working beside you can feel the current of your creative aura. Not in a mood to create? Then integrate the scattered attention, emotions, and sensations by taking a long warm shower. Or send loving attention to a family member,...

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